


Postmortem

by Milosflaca



Category: Saint Seiya
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-09
Updated: 2011-04-09
Packaged: 2017-10-17 20:12:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/180760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milosflaca/pseuds/Milosflaca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A tale of a murder at Sanctuary and Kanon's quest to resolve the issue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Torquemada](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Torquemada).



> **Warning: contains explicit scenes, crude language and violence.. If you are  
>  sensitive to this stuff, I don't recommend you to read this.**
> 
> This fic was writtten for the SeSa Challenge (2008). The SeSa is a yearly event  
> where you basically write or draw something for a recipient (whatever he  
> or she requests). This year (2008), I signed up as a writer (go figure) and I  
> got Torquemada as my recipient. And this is what I came up with.  
> Many thanks to Joe and Adalisa who beta read this :)

 

 _"A Man's dying is more the survivors' affair than his own."_  
Thomas Mann

 

 **T** here was a hand sticking out of one of the ditches near the coliseum.

Had it not been for the rat gnawing at it, Kanon would've just walked away passing his finding for a drunken soldier. It was a common thing, coming across trainees or lower rank members of the Sanctuary making fools of themselves on a Friday night.

The presence of the rat, however, indicated that the hand that was now sticking out of the ground like a lonely daisy, belonged to a dead person.

"Great," he uttered, exhaling heavily and feeling tired all of a sudden.

Just that very morning three trainees had been reported missing. Although it wasn't Kanon's problem, it placed him in a difficult situation, because deserting the Sanctuary was not a very welcome thing to do among the ranks. Most of the times the runaways ended up being killed by their peers, who rapidly justified the murder afterwards as a punishment for high treason.

So far two had been found already unharmed, but the third had been impossible to locate. Maybe this was Kanon's lucky day after all.

He sighed heavily, walking towards the ditch and scaring off the rat, that instantly sprinted away to seek shelter in the nearby bushes. Kanon simply smiled and shook his head amused, crouching near the gap where the hand was, to have a better look at what lay past it. Just so he could positively identify the body first before reporting it to the Kyoko.

It was going to be a long night for sure.

However he couldn't get closer. As soon he stepped near the ditch, a horrible stench hit him making him fall backwards to the ground.

Whatever lay inside it smelled like stored garbage and rotten meat, all combined into one pile and then left out in the sun together to stew. It was an incredibly potent and poignant odor that made Kanon of all people, retreat completely to a far away tree.

 _This can't be the missing trainee_ , he thought while trying his best to collect himself.

But it was hard. Even at three meters, the stench was still pretty potent and all that he could do was covering his nose with his hand in a futile attempt to diminish the scent which to this point was causing his stomach to turn to a knot.  
He knew he was going to vomit any minute now, he could almost feel a sour taste at the back of his throat.

" I can't fucking believe this," Kanon said feeling ashamed of himself.

He had seen countless dead bodies during war time. Some of which he had dealt the final blow. Of course he had never stayed to see them decomposing, and it was a horrible thing to _smell_. But it was pretty shameful that a man of his rank would be a coward upon finding something like this and five minutes later Kanon was again near the ditch ready to deal with things.

He was hoping he could tell at first glance who the victim was and get on with the rest of the procedure, but the body that was in front of him was very badly decomposed. There were flies and maggots crawling all over it. At least, in the areas that were not covered with water as part of it was half submerged in sewage such as empty cans, half eaten food, and some other waste that Kanon didn't want to identify.

Next to it there was an animal. Or at least what it seemed to be an animal, Kanon wasn't very sure about this, because the trees next to the ditch cast heavy shadows on top of the corpse. He looked at the face, trying to focus on the identity of the dead person instead of the whole picture, but it was covered with a pile of tree branches.

Instinctively Kanon looked to his left, to where the ocean was. Maybe the body had been carried to the Sanctuary by the sea currents. It was a possibility, because all sorts of dead things appeared once in a while on Sanctuary's coast. Including bodies. This finding could not be an exception to the rule.

Nevertheless, this body looked too damaged to have been dragged up here _just_ by the water. In fact on a closer look it seemed to have been jammed into the ditch, animal and all, because it barely fitted the small space. Someone _had_ to have put it in there along with whatever lay on its side.

One thing was certain. This was not the missing trainee. The smell alone was enough to know that the person had died days ago.

Kanon scratched his head and then crouched to start inspecting the body.

The body was naked, so Kanon could see that it was male and that it had a series of dark spots on the surface of the skin, especially in the toes, calves and the thighs. There were also areas colored white and red, as if the blood had clogged to one side. Most of the exposed body showed teeth marks, which probably belonged to the rats and other animals that were known to feast on corpses.

There was also something moving under the skin.

"Oh gross!" He said out loud making a face, when he saw one maggot coming out of one gap, realizing that the lumps moving underneath were, in fact, flesh eating worms.

For a split second he almost decided he'd had enough of this; He only needed to return to the Twelve Temples and order some of the lower rank soldiers to deal with the corpse, but once again something that he saw, made him stop dead on his tracks.

The maggot was crawling over a purple mark. A bruise.

And next to it, there was another one. And another one.

He tilted his head and leaned closer, holding his breath to avoid hurling over the body.

The dead man was covered with bruises that formed a perfect pattern upwards from the legs to his solar plexus, crowning its trail with a big mark right over his heart.

Kanon frowned, now feeling very confused and, anxious. He was not sure who had killed this man and, more importantly, how the body had ended on Sanctuary grounds. But one thing was certain: This person had died in a fight. A very cruel fight for the looks of it.

Kanon started then looking for evidence that supported his theory and soon he found it in the shape of scratches and peeled off skin in the victim's thighs. It looked as if someone had held him down and ripped it off with his own hands... but most of the skin was loose, maybe because of the long time it spent on the water or because something that had been done to the body postmortem.

For instance the hand that Kanon first noticed had its skin coming off altogether. As if it was a glove.

Kanon frowned as he recognized a mild interest in watching a corpse rotting. He reckoned this could have been a party for Death Mask, who was more than acquainted with the decomposition of the human body, but now he had to give it to the man, if anything, the process was interesting. Had the other hand gone through the same process?  
Still, recent found passion for forensics or not, he needed to be sure which things were naturally caused by the natural process of decomposing and which by the fight.

Kanon tilted his head, feeling nauseated again.

The right hand was missing.

And it didn't seem as if the attacker had cut it off the body, because Kanon could notice some of the bones that were sticking out the rotten flesh, splintered. As if the hand had been broken first and then torn off.

It must have been painful.

Definitely all the damage inflicted to this man was done by someone who knew where to punch. Every single mark indicated so.

Kanon gave a step back feeling annoyed. This was not going to be good for anyone here, because all the evidence led him to think that the murderer _had to_ be a trained warrior and if this was the case then...

He could almost picture everyone in the Sanctuary going berserk after finding out that security had been breached even when the other pantheons swore Athena to mantain peace at all costs after the Hades War.

He sighed then and reached out his hand to uncover the face of the victim while praying under his breath that the man in front of him was a stray farmer killed by rogue trainees.

He could now see the animal clearly. It was a pig, but unlike his death mate, its body was almost untouched, only its head had been severed and now rested on top of the man's shoulders.

The body of the pig was crowned with the man's head and neck, even with the maggots and the flies and the blood plastered all over it still showed a little tattoo.

A tattoo of a scorpion.

Kanon couldn't help but smile.


	2. II

**F** orty two hours had passed since the discovery of Scorpio Milo's body.

Kanon was sitting in Athena's chamber with dark circles under his eyes and a mug of coffee between his hands. Death Mask and Aphrodite sat on a couch across the room, with the same weary faces that showed the hell they had been through in the past days.

The knowledge that a Gold Saint had been murdered on Holy Ground was a big concern to everyone, because if a Gold Saint had been killed off, just below the Twelve Temples, it only meant that there was little hope for the rest.

The appearance of a dead Saint during a Peace Age, meant that war was around the corner.

For Athena and Aioros, the appointed Kyoko, things were seen from a different perspective. When they had first heard the news, they had been very concerned about the conditions the body had been found in.

It was not only that Milo had probably been tortured and humilliated before death, that their friend had suffered so much before his soul left his body. There was also the undeniable fact that the murderer had wanted to extend the humilliation to the Sanctuary that Milo had protected all his life.

For outsiders, the 13 years of Saga's cruel dictatorship and the following war against Poseidon and Hades, had been reason enough to call the Holy Ground a site of depravation. A site were violence was an everyday situation.  
The Kyoko and Athena were very aware of the fact and were doing their best to clean the image of the Order. But for outsiders things were the same as always: people died, etiher during training or by their own hands, they fought for pleasure and people disspeared. Nothing good came from the Sanctuary at all.

If people knew about the details of the gruesome murder, things would get worse.

The body was transported discretely by the Kyoko and Kanon himself, wrapped in a thick linen cloth, treated with Aphrodite's rose petals to dimish the stench. Then it was put in a coffin and placed at the back of the Kyoko's chamber, where Athena herself cleaned up the corpse and put the heads back on their right bodies.

Kanon thought to that point that he had seen everything as Gods were concerned, but he never ever anticipated that Athena would fell on her knees as soon as she saw Milo's body still lying on top of the blanket next to the pig.

Kanon hadn't noticed before, but it looked like Milo and the pig were sleeping together. Athena simply looked at him, with tears in her eyes, perhaps as a silent nod to his realization. To his surprise, she went to him and huggged him. Kanon didn't know what to do at first and stayed very stiff under Athena's embrace.

 _I'm sorry you of all people had to deal with this_ , She told him, while the Kyoko stared inquisitively. Kanon simply diverted his eyes to the wall and returned the gesture to his Goddess . Just so that she would let him go.

He had never liked Milo and he felt uncomfortable that Athena tried to find comfort with him. Seeing the Scorpio Saint dead with heads switched with a pig was a pleasure in itself.

Thankfully the Kyoko cut the moment short and ordered Kanon to look for tresspasers, as well as ordering him that giving out information to anyone about the body, even to the other Gold Saints was absolutely prohibited.

This meant that everyone was under suspicion. After all, Milo had been killed by a warrior.

With that in mind, the Gemini Saint nodded and left. Behind him he could hear Athena begging him to find the one responsable for this and then heard her weeping again like a little girl. It was the first time that Kanon realized how young their Goddess really was, and how inocent she could be to the cruelty of the world.  
But it was starting to get annoying, because he knew that neither the Kyoko nor Athena cared about what should be the most important thing here: a possible breach in the security of the Sanctuary.  
No, what mattered most to them was that Milo had died, especially because all the situation was underlined by the fact that unlike other times, she could not bring the Scorpio Saint back to life.

Ever since the Hades War had ended the remaining gods sat down in mount Olympus to sign a peace treaty that prevented them to mess around with each other's realms. That meant that Athena no longer had the power to return the deceased at will.

The only exception to the rule was if the person died during a war.  
Every other day, the task belonged to Hades who, truce or not, still held a grudge against her and the order. And this, of course presented a problem for them, because even if Kanon didn't like it, Milo had many friends who would not sit back and accept the fact that he would stay dead for good.

Kanon had always thought otherwise. For him the son of a bitch was better off dead.

But despite his dislike for the assigment Kanon carried out the orders diligently, taking Death Mask and Aphrodite with him because even with the atonement of their sins and their comeback as loyal saints of Athena, were still mean motherfuckers who could squeeze the truth out of anyone with just one look.

It would be a piece of cake, finding the intruders that had killed Milo. Athena and the Kyoko might hate the evil reputation that the Order had, but Kanon could make good use of it . The villages were filled with people who would talk their brains out at the sight of three Golden Saints questioning them.

It was only a matter time now.

They combed the area from Friday night to early Sunday afternoon, without finding anything that would indicate a breach of the Sanctuary or a clue about Milo's murder. And even when they questioned everyone they could find, going from from bar to bar, from brothel to brothel, asking hookers, sailors, trainees, alcohol smugglers, and even passerbys and civilians, as to where Milo was seen last, they could find nothing.

They even stopped at a clandestine fight joint, located in the suburbs of Athens, where Milo had used to go to earn easy cash every now and then.  
Kanon figured they would find answers in this place, since the joint was always filled with savages and street fighters, who would bite, punch and do anything to win some money for booze and sex. It was most likely that Milo could have gotten himself in trouble with experienced-if not skilled- fighters who could have killed him out of spite.  
That would explain the body marks and the vicious way Milo had been left to rot.  
It was their best shot at finding information, but no matter where they went, the answer was always the same: Milo hadn't been seen in Athens or the Sanctuary for almost two weeks.

The body hadn't been checked by an coroner in the area, but Kanon was pretty sure Milo _had_ been dead for that long. It was only right. The level of decomposition of the corpse alone told him that he had been dead if not for two weeks, for at least one.

Aphrodite and Death Mask were shocked when they learned about this. Not because of the murder itself, but because nobody had felt the missing gap in their Cosmos, and they should have.

All of the Gold Saints _should have known_ earlier about their loss. They probably had, but no one dwelled on that issue for too long as Milo tended to dissappear for more than two weeks in a row, and it was a known fact that a Cosmos felt from afar more often than not dissappeared altogether until the owner reappeared again near the Holy Ground.

Aphrodite kept fixiating on the subject. He was very interested to know how Milo's body had been found. He had been the first one to be summoned due to his special power to control plants and was asked by the Kyoko to prepare a mixture of herbs to diminsh the overwhelming scent of the rotten corpse.

But Kanon kept the details to himself, as he had been ordered to.

After twelve hours, Death Mask had asked him between yawns to let it go, that he as was as incensed as Aphrodite, but he took consolation in the fact that nothing could have been done to save Milo's life.

Kanon just rolled his eyes. Death Mask had always openly claimed to dislike Milo and now? He pretended to be shaken about his death. As if.

Sometimes Kanon just wondered if the Cancer Saint's new found respect for the order was real or just a facade.

Kanon knew all the Gold Saints hid darker sides. His brother Saga was the most extreme example causing the only internal war in the Order's history, but all of them had skeletons in their past. Milo was not an exception.

There had been the incident with a young girl who had been Aioria's apprentice. The girl had been infatuated with Milo and the Gold Saint had been charming and seductive until she had finally caved in and ended up sucking Milo's dick while hidden inside a wardrobe. The poor girl had thought that Milo loved her and when she realized that he didn't even know her name, it had been too much for her so she had comitted suicide.

There had been the boy that sold himself outside the Sanctuary, looking for scraps of food just to survive, whom Milo fucked everytime he felt horny. Kanon had walked in on them more than once and everytime was a disgusting thing to walk in on.

But there were other reasons why Kanon disliked Milo.

At night, he still could feel the poisonous needles of Milo's power inside of him. A bitter reminder of the humilliation that the asshole had made him go through when he had first joined the order during the Hades war.

Kanon was not really a saint in the literal sense. He had cheated and lied and manipulated gods in his time, but at least he didn't do all those things under a veil of innocence.

He was a motherfucker, but at least an honest motherfucker with whom you knew what to expect. With Milo? Everything was left unsaid.

And now he had to deal with his legacy, running errands in the middle of the night, even after finding that there was no treath whatosever to the order, to find Milo's "killer" to keep all the ones who believed in his innocence pleased. He was still a pain in the ass. Even in death.

Of course, Aphrodite's annoying questions were an advance of what was to come. As soon as the three of them set foot on Sanctuary grounds, they found out that gossip had spread quickly and even without the gruesome details of how Milo had died, the knowledge of his death, had encouraged the rest of the Gold Saints, to demand Athena and the Kyoko to see the body.

Everybody wanted to know what had happened that night.

Kanon just wanted to sleep.

"I'm sorry that I kept you waiting" Athena said interrupting Kanon's thoughts.

Surprisingly she looked more human than ever with he eyes swollen and her cheeks stained with tears. But Kanon had to admitt that Milo's body was not an easy thing to stomach. A girl of her age had the right to fall apart at the sight of something like that. Especially because now she had to deal with the rest of the Order who, were threatening to come up to talk to her, since Kanon would tell them nothing about what he had found when he first arrived to the premises.

"It doesn't matter Athena. We are here for you," Kanon said respectfully, standing up before kneeling in front of her. Aphrodite and Death Mask followed suit.

"Did you find anything?" She asked with a sweet but tired tone, placing a hand in Kanon's shoulder, indicating him that the protocol was fulfilled and he could stand up now.

"No, My lady," The three Saints answered at the same time.

"There are no intruders on the premises, My lady. The Sanctuary is safe," Kanon added, bowing respectfuly.

"And what about Milo, Kanon?" She asked, crossing her arms "Did you find anything that would give us the identity of his killer?"

At this, Kanon bit his lip and looked to the ground, showing plainly that he was upset that now the suspicion would turn to the other members of the order. Like himself.

 _Un-fucking-believable._

"Kanon?" Athena asked again lifting Kanon's face, forcing him to see her.

"No, My lady. We found nothing. Only that he hadn't been in the area for almost two weeks."

"I see," She said and walked to the couch to sit down "I was hoping we could find something that would give us more clues"

Kanon looked sideways to see Aphrodite and Death Mask who looked at each other with puzzled expressions set on their faces.

"I think you may now go to rest."

The three of them nodded and Kanon turned around to leave the room.

He wasn't able to reach the door, as it opened letting the rest of the Gold Saints walk in. Kanon noticed that they weren't even wearing their Clothes as protocol indicated. Milo's death had been a shock for everyone else indeed.

Athena raised her head and stood up to meet her warriors. Kanon stood up behind them and leaned to the wall while the newcomers kneeled to present their respects.

"May I help you?" Athena asked politely. Kanon just sighed, if Saga had been here all of them would have gone back to the temples in that very moment, chopped in pieces in eight different boxes.

Aparently during a Peace Age, things got a bit loose for Kanon's taste.

"My lady," the Aquarius Saint was the first to speak "We want to know exactly what happened to Milo."

Athena fidgeted, biting her lip. It was clear to Kanon that she was about to cry again. This was definitely not going to be a pretty thing to watch.

"I'm sorry if we are being so pushy, Lady Athena, "Aioria the Lion offered his apologies on behalf of his fellow saints, maybe realizing what their demands were causing to the already shaken psyche of their Goddess. "But we want to help you to find the culprit and punish his murderer. We owe it to our friend."

"I already did that job for her, Aioria," Kanon answered dryily from behind "And we found nothing. You should leave Lady Athena alone and go back to your temples. _Now_ "

Everybody turned around to see him angered by his words. But Kanon was not intimidated so he just smiled widely, raising his eyebrows as a silent statement of the fact that he held the highest position in the room. He was after all, whether they like it or not, the Gemini Saint and thus the commander of the Gold Saints.

But the fact thay they were demanding Athena to give them answers was an unsaid accusation of the way the investigation was being executed. As if Kanon's personal feelings for the deceased Saint would have interferred with his duty.

But he had been expecting this. No matter how many times he proved himself, they wouldn't let it go. He would still be the brother of the dictator, the man who had started the war against Poseidon, and now, the brother of a mad man; Saga had fallen ill after he had been brought back to life.

"Well, maybe you didn't look far enough," Camus said, returning his attention to the Goddess. "I think we should all look again. Harder. All of us could go to the town, ask people again..."

Kanon took a deep breath, closing his eyes. If Athena hadn't here he would have grabbed the French fucker and make him swallow his goddamned tounge. But instead, he lifted his chin, in a gesture of pride. Camus could talk as much as he wanted with his accented Greek but he knew he had done an excelent job. Had it not been for him, he would have returned to the Sanctuary as soon as he and his search mates had found there was no visible threat to the order.

"Wait," Death Mask interrupted, blushed with anger. Maybe Kanon could stand back and take all the verbal abuse from Milo's friends, but Death Mask wouldn't. Especially since the Aquarius Saint wasn't only questioning the way the investigation had been done, but also Death Mask's ability to interrogate people. Bringing fear to his peers was one of Death Mask's many prides. "Are you implying that we didn't do our job?"

"No," Camus answered almost immediately while crossing his arms "I'm just saying that no one would be able to carry out an errand as efficiently as needed with almost three days without a good night's sleep."

"Well, talk for yourself Aquarius," Death Mask retorted, with a grimace of desdain on his mouth. "Believe me, we _did_ our job. You can be sure of that. I even got some ATM pin numbers from people who knew nothing but still wanted to contribute to the cause with some information, as useless as that was."

"And what did you find, may I ask?" Virgo Shaka, asked with his hands clutched nervously to his Japa mala. Kanon didn't know why but out of all the Saints, Shaka was the one that exasperated him the most. It was probably because Shaka addressed everyone with a condecending, patronizing tone as if he would be speaking to idiotic children who would not understand beyond the word "hi".

"Nothing," Kanon answered, walking to the center of the room to face Shaka. "Like I already told you, we found nothing. The only new piece of evidences is that Milo hadn't been seen for almost two weeks. Not even the hookers or the male prostitutes who Milo so merrily frecuented, knew his whereabouts. Just that he didn't show up to his appointments."

"We even went to the bar that's outside the pastrie shop near Athens's downtown and everyone told us, Milo hadn't shown up in over two weeks," Aphrodite added, also ofended by the insinuation made by the others.

"Well, that's enough," The Kyoko exclaimed coming out of the room where Milo's body rested. A doctor was next to him, holding many files and a camera.

"I think you all should go back to your temples. There's nothing you can do to help Milo now."

"Yes, I can see that your highness," Shaka interrupted with a calm tone of voice "But, with all due respect, I think that we have the right to know what's going on. I tried early this morning to see the body to pray for my friend's soul, but I wasn't allowed to go near it, and they wouldn't tell us what they found in their investigation."

"I know, Shaka," The Kyoko answered, untouched by Virgo's eloquent speech "I told Kanon, to keep the details to himself"

"Yes I can understand that. But if we are to surpass our misunderstandings and clean the already tainted image of the order, we have to work as a team. We have to start to tell each other the truth. It's the only way to achieve wisdom and healing."

Kanon rolled his eyes. Sometimes, Shaka was the perfect poster child for a Green Peace add. The problem was that like that obnoxious organization, Shaka had lost the point entirely.  
This was not about sharing each other's tragedies and pushing the order forward with hindu chants and color beads. This was about a murder and even if the killer was found they weren't going to have Milo back. If this continued the hindu man would have them all sit down in a semi circle, smoking pot.

"More importantly," Shaka kept on. "We need to be informed of the advances they make in their investigation in case we are under the same threat, as Milo."

Everyone nodded, except Athena, who sighed and looked at the Kyoko, who didn't say anything, instead he handed a folder to her, with evident annoyance.

"Very well," Athena said. "However you need to promise me that what I'm about to tell you won't leave this room. Is that clear?"

Everybody stayed silent as Athena described Kanon's findings. Kanon could see Shaka holding his japa mala very hard, his mouth open in disbelief. AldebarÃ¡n and Mu started to cry, while Aioria kept muttering profanities against whoever had killed one of his best friends.

He had been hoping to see Camus flip, but the French warrior never lost composure. He kept staring at the wall behind Athena. Kanon supposed this was the closest to emotion that the other Saint could express.  
On the other side of the room, Death Mask frowned and Aphrodite covered his mouth with his hands.

"...doctor Pasifakis," Athena kept going trying her best not to cry. "Who kindly did the autopsy as best as he could given the state of the body, has confirmed that Milo had been indeed killed during a fight and his hand had been torn off before he had died."

"Was he beheaded after or before he died?" Death Mask asked casually, making everyone turn to look at him.

"After," The coroner answered. "And by what I could grasp from the traces left by the livor mortis - that is, the blood that pools in the lower part of the body right after it dies, in this case, his abdomen-, indicated that the body laid at least for 12 hours facing downwards, and that later on was moved, at least twice, until he was dumped inside the ditch. Also, the way that the hand was cut off doesn't match the way the head was severed from the body."

"What do you mean it doesn't match?" Camus asked. He was now sitting in the couch looking pale. "Are you suggesting there were two killers?"

"No. I'm saying that maybe the killer chopped off the hand, killed him and then, in a rush, beheaded him."

"What do you mean by 'rush'?" It was Kanon's turn to ask. This was taking an interesting turn.

"That the head was literaly torn off the body. There were chain marks in his neck, which suggests a sudden change of mind. Maybe the person who killed him was mentally unstable and though he or she knew how to kill a person, had a moment of panic and decided to desecrate the body in an untidy manner before he put it on display with the pig."

Kanon felt all eyes on him as soon as the coroner said the phrase "mentally unstable". But he couldn't blame them for this one. His twin brother Saga, was after all mentally ill.

"Gentleman," Kanon said trying to dimish the impact of the words spoken by the coroner "Milo was killed by a warrior. For all we know, we are all suspects here..."

"Please, stop Kanon," Athena pleaded which made everyone shut up, though Kanon could feel tension building up around him. What he had said was true. He could almost hear their thoughts, _Was it you? Or maybe you?_

There was nothing left to say and after Athena promised they could pay their respects to Milo tomorrow, everyone left.

Death Mask stayed put though, waiting patiently to have a moment alone to speak with Athena and the Kyoko, making Kanon wondered why.

Twenty minutes later the three of them sat at a table inside the forbidden room, with Milo's body a few meters away from them.

"What do you want to tell me, Angelo?" Athena asked, adressing the Cancer Saint by his real name. Death Mask flinched at the mention of it, but did nothing more.

"Well," He started saying, looking down to the table. "It's just a rumor that I heard from the villagers, but it might help to clarify some of the mistery here."

Athena nodded so Cancer kept on. Kanon simply stared at him, feeling a rush of adrenaline going through his body. Death Mask wouldn't have asked for a private meeting if he hadn't something valuable to say.

"I met a person a while back who told me that his best friend had been cheated by his wife with the local butcher and well... you know, thou shalt not covet, your neighbour's spouse and all that." Cancer made a pause to clear his throat. Kanon started to feel a bit impatient. "The husband had the guy killed and placed his body next to a pig, switching their heads afterwards, so that everybody would know he had committed adultery. So that everyone would know the kind of man he was."

Kanon couldn't help but smile. This cleared things up. Milo had been comitting adultery with a woman, and had got himself killed in the process...

He had got what he deserved. Still, there were some things that didn't quite match, because Milo, adulterous or not, _had been_ killed during a fight.  
A commoner would not have the strength to kill a well trained warrior. Not in a million years.

"Are you sure?" Athena asked obviously not wanting to believe Death Mask's words.

"This is just something I heard, my lady," Cancer said, sounding uncomfortable. "But still it's pretty strange, because as far as I know those practices were carried on in small towns around Italy and it could have a lot of other meanings around here."

"See to it then," Kanon ordered.

Then he stood up and left the building.


	3. III

**K** anon needed to check something before he went back to his temple.

He walked down the Twelve temples heading to the cabins that were built near the limits of the Holy Ground.

In previous years the area had been designated for training newcomers. Now it was filled with little cabins that, before the Hades War were meant to host guests since unlike other living places around the area, had every commodities a visit could need during their time on the Sanctuary.

But after the wars no one would visit the Sanctuary and soon, the cabins became the storage area of the Holy Ground.

Past the cabins lay a trail that led to the mountain of 'Trelos', which meant, in coloquial greek "out of his mind". In what some would consider a fitting end, Saga passed his days locked away in a little cottage, far away from curious eyes.

Kanon stopped in front of Saga's house. It was built into the mountain as if it grew naturally out of the stone. It was a beautiful place to live. Athena herself had ordered its construction so that it could be a decent resting house for a man who, despite his mental disability had carried out his duty as a Saint in the best way he could.

Despite the beauty, Kanon had hoped that he wouldn't need to come this soon.

The last time he had come, had been after finding a note stuck on the door of his temple with message "shit all over the walls. Come quick". It had been only two days ago, the same Friday when he had found Milo's body; cleaning your twin brother's shit off the walls, and later finding a dead body wasn't prescisely Kanon's definition of a fun Friday night. It didn't matter that at the end, luck had been on his side and he had found one of the men he disliked the most jammed dead into the ditch. Both tasks had been equaly disgusting.

There was also the fact that 'shit on the walls' aside, it was difficult for Kanon to see Saga, because it reminded him that their fates would be always ominous no matter the direction in which they tried to lead their lives.

During the Hades War, Kanon thought they both could leave their past behind. He had joined Athena's ranks oficially and fought aside legendary Saints such as Dhoko and Shion, helped to defeat Hades and destroyed his threat to the world. Saga had done his part as well, returning from the dead, this time as an ally and not playing the part of their enemy as had been the case for quite a while.

Both had died during the war, but Athena had brought them back to life as a reward for their services. For six months everything seemed just fine. Even with Saga's diagnosed dissociative identity disorder, that had led him to overun the Sanctuary, he seemed to be adjusting to his new life pretty well, abdicating his rank on Kanon's behalf and retiring to civilian life to enjoy Athena's gift to its fullest.

But then tragedy struck again and Saga soon began to hear voices. This time, the 'voices' weren't reflected into multiple personalities. They were only in Saga's head.

It was a matter of time for Saga to be diagnosed with extreme schizophrenia, which the physicians claimed to be a direct result of his recent resucitacion that had caused a chemical imbalance in his brain, that among other things, caused him to suffer from heavy hallucinations.  
And so, Saga's health started to decline. The voices were the beginning of the madness. He would spent most of his time alone, but when he would agree to meet other people his behavior was completely erratic. He would scream at them, accusing visitors that they had come to his house to kill him.  
He would sometimes cry over the death of Baby Athena, no longer able to remember the past. He would see Aioros and believe that he was a ghost who returned from the grave to punish him for his sins against the order.  
He also claimed that all the people he had killed during his reing upon the Sanctuary had come to haunt him and he would point and stare blankly at the corners of the room, very sure that his victims were there, when there was actually no one else inside the room but himself.

All too soon the little moments when he was lucid and in control of his mind were very scarse and people began to talk.

The first months Kanon had to endure being pointed at, mostly because some of the villagers still confused him with Saga, but even those who knew that they were twins were afraid of him anyway, because there was no telling whether he would go insane just like his brother had.

Saga had to be put away for good and even when Kanon had forgiven him for his incarcelation at Cape Sounion, he began to harbour hard feelings against him.  
It seemed that nothing they could do would make them had a decent reputation.  
It was as a whole something incredibly hard to deal with.

"I know you are out there," Saga said out loud, and snapping Kanon out of his memories. He sighed, opening the door and entered the house slowly, scanning the surroundings to check that everything was in place.

Most of the fowl smell was gone already, but he could still see part of the wall paper that had to be stripped off three days ago and the memory lingered. The rest of the house looked the same as before. There was a simple wood bed with white linen sheets against one of the walls near the window that faced to the city. Next to it, a small desk with books piled up and a lamp and in the center of the room a table that had a bowl filled with apples.There was also a small entertaining unit that once had a TV and a radio, but those later had to be removed because Saga kept complaining that the images and sounds that came out from the devices where like pointy shards that hurt him.

After various incidents the centre became the place where Kanon kept Saga's clothes, which were very few garments, as the former Gemini Saint started to spent some time naked lying catatonic on the floor.

"Hello Saga," Kanon greeted him, looking around and checking that nothing had been altered in the last two days when he had been out of town running errands.

He had to admit the minute the coroner mentioned that Milo's murder could have been comitted by a madman, he had been afraid that the rest of the Gold Saints would have come here and manhandled his brother in search of answers.

But nothing seemed to be out of place. Saga was calm and so Kanon relaxed. As the commander, he would have known if somebody had been there during his absence. Everyone knew that the area around Sagas's house was off limits. There was no way to be sure when he was lucid or not, and so far during the schizoid periods, the former Gemini Saint would only tolarate his brother's presence, or the the maid who had been appointed by Kanon to do the house chores. Any other person around could send Saga into a frenzy and countless times Kanon had to be called to calm his brother down who would be on the verge of hurting someone or even himself.

Saga didn't look at him though. He was staring at a corner, half naked, and counting something.

"One, two, three, four, five."

Kanon streched himself to see what it was, but he could't see a thing as his brother massive back was covering his view and he knew better as to not approach him.  
The corner was Saga's safe place, no one could touch him when he was there.

Kanon wanted to go back to his temple to sleep, but he stayed. Part of him needed to talk to someone that would share his opinions on the murder he just had witnessed. If Saga hadn't been crazy, he would have shared his point of view. He'd disliked Milo as well.

"How are you today Saga?" Kanon greeted him, looking instictively to the table for a chair.

Of course there were none, as those had to be removed too because sometimes when Saga sat on one, he could no longer tell where the chair ended and he began, and more often than not Kanon would find him yelling his lungs out because he wanted to move the arm rest at will. As if the arm rest had been a part of his body and therefore, it could respond to his brain like every other part of his body would have.  
So he sat crosslegged on the floor.

"Alive... if that's what you mean. Six, seven eight..."

Kanon sighed heavily feeling miserable and overwhelmed. He had been hoping that today his brother would act like a normal human being. Of course this had been wishful thinking.

He leaned back, supporting his weight with his arm and stared at the wall he had cleaned just three days ago and wondered about his brother. How could a man so powerful be reduced into something like this?

"Why did you wash my brown? One, two, three, four five," Saga asked still counting.

He turned around and stared at Saga. Sometimes his questions were completely idiotic and out of context. Maybe he was playing with him, or maybe it was just that he was _really_ that mad. Still he indulged him to state the obvious. "Because you can't expect me to let you live surrounded by shit, Saga. That's why"

"What's the difference?" Saga retorted "What was on the wall, is still out there, where I used to live, were you are. Shit is everywhere Kanon. All over the Sancturay."

Kanon laughed in disbelief while standing up. "What the hell are you talking about? It doesn't matter if the order has gone through rough times - all thanks to you, by the way- but even so we are warriors Saga, we are the bringers of justice, we are..."

"Killers," Saga interrupted him, this time turning slightly around to see him "We are the shit of this country and we deserve to die. All of us...."

"Very well then," Kanon said while walking to the table. "Then it wouldn't come to a surprise to you that Milo is dead."

He knew he shouldn't use sarcasm with Saga. At least not now as his brother already had problems to separate fiction from reality. But he couldn't help himself. Sometimes Saga's inner dialogue and schizoid paranoic antics usually ended pushing him to the edge.

"Oh, I know."

Kanon blinked "You know? What do you mean you _know_?"

"You and I were dead too. Remember? We died and then we were brought back to life. I don't know what you are getting at."

At this point Saga turned around, completely facing him. He just needed to be sure. Very sure.

"Yes, I do remember Saga, but the thing is that...Milo was killed three days ago."

"Is that so?" Saga asked tilting his head to one side. Then he took one hand and lift it and started playing with his hair on top of his head, making little knots with his fingers. He always did that when he was talking to people "I already knew that too."

Kanon couldn't help but feel goosebumps. What the hell was Saga talking about?  
It was true that word spread quickly around the premises, but there was no way that Saga knew this. No one knew outside the Gold saints that Milo had died.

"Too?"

"Yes, the voices told me."

"Told you what?" Kanon pressed on, leaning slightly forward, very sure he was going to have a heart attack any time soon. Saga then turned his back on him.

"Yes, they told me they would kill Milo and then they would come to kill me after they were done with him and when you didn't show up yesterday I was worried that they'd got to you too."

Kanon sighed, relaxing completely and feeling happy about the presence of the voices for the very first time "No Saga. I had to go outside the Sactuary to run an errand for Athena. As you can see I'm fine."

"Don't count too much on it. We'll all soon be dead..."

"You are crazy Saga..." He said under his breath and turned around looking for something to drink.

"Where is the water? I'm thirsty," Kanon asked, walking to the small fridge that was in the opposite corner to Saga and started looking for bottled water on the inside. Unfortunately the bottles were already empty "Fuck. I told that girl to bring you fresh water every three days! Can't anyone do their job around here?"

Kanon slammed the door of the fridge and rubbed his eyes impatiently "Saga where is Adara?"

"She's in the back. Eleven, twelve..."

He turned around and stared for one minute at the back door that lead to the garden.

"Never mind. I'm not in the mood for arguing with the maid. I'll have some water when at my temple..."

"You look tired." Saga said turning around to see him again "Are you sad about Milo?"

To this Kanon couldn't help but laugh. Why would he be sad? Saga knew he hated the motherfucker, for crying out loud.

"Of course not. I'm just mad because I've been running errands for almost three days on account of him. As if that son of a bitch deserved it, I bet this wouldn't be happening had Athena had the power to bring him back to life."

Saga was now in front of him, in less than a fraction of a second, staring at him with his eyes wide open. His hand still locked in a strand of hair on top of his head.  
Kanon fliched a bit when he felt his brother's breath on his face.

"Poor Kanon. You have climbed your way up to the highest rank of the Sanctuary, and got forgiveness from Lady Athena and acceptance from the order. But you still are a bitter, bitter man. Poor Kanon... poor Kanon."

And Saga took both his hands and placed them on either side of Kanon's head. They remained for a while like that and for a moment, Kanon could see past Saga's eyes, finding a trace of sanity. A trace that indicated him that Saga understood what he was going through if only for a brief moment.  
Finding the body, the struggle to find any information avaliable and then the feeling of not being trusted no matter what he did. It was very exhasperating, as it was being here. Talking to Saga was like watching a humming bird near your window pane. You never knew where it would be off again.

"It works for you though..." His brother said bringing him back to reality, while taking his hands off Kanon's face "But don't get too comfortable. I'm sure Milo will be back in no time."

"No Saga. He won't. He can't. He wasn't killed in a war and according to the new laws among the Gods Athena can't..."

"Oh, but he _will_ be back," Saga interrupted him."Because his friends will ask her to do something about it. Yes. His friends will ask her and Lady Athena will do her best to bring Milo back."

"You don't know that," Kanon protested, starting to feel angry while Saga kept counting again between whispers.

"Listen to your big brother. I was a Kyoko and I once was, above all of them."

"Well, things have changed since you were the headmaster of this Sanctuary,Saga."

"Yes, but unlike the position I stole," Saga began, looking at him sternly as he used to do when they were little and he was trying to teach him good manners "Friendship remains pretty much the same Kanon. You might be great with ordering people around, but you have no idea of what having a friend is."

Saga's comment was like a bucket of cold water to Kanon's pride. But then again, their conversations, no matter how well intentioned they were, always ended like this. Saga being the great wise warrior and Kanon being the idiotic fool.

"Tell me something Kanon,"

"What?" He snapped, clenching his jaw and breathing slowly.

"When I die, will you plead for me to be returned to life? Or will you be happy to get rid of me as you are with Milo?"

"Why are you asking me all this? You are not dead!" He said, almost yelling. Saga just blinked, tilted his head and turned around dragging his feet across the room.

"I know," said Saga kneeling again on the corner," I meant when the voices kill me... will you do it?"

But Kanon didn't answer this time. He walked away and left Trellos mountain, feeling more frustrated than ever.


	4. IV

**K** anon had overslept.

He woke up in his room still with his clothes on, sprawled on the bed.

Death Mask was standing on the edge of the bed, looking like hell, with bags under his eyes and a cigarrette hanging from his lips.

"Hello, Sleeping Beauty" He said, while Kanon was still trying to focus his eyes that were still providing blurry images. His body still felt heavy and his feet hurt like hell. He was pretty sure he would have slept straight till noon if Death Mask hadn't awoken him.

"What's up, Death Mask?" Kanon asked dryly while he tried to get off the bed and drag himself to the bathroom to clean himself up a bit before he started his day.

"I just came from Athens."

"From Athens?" Kanon asked almost shouting as Death Mask's voice was being muffled by the running water of his sink. He had hoped he would have gotten the report from him in the afternoon. At least he would have gotten a chance to rest and disconect himself from all this mess. Of course he should have known better as Death Mask was mostly efficient when he was told to go on an errand to find information.

"Yes, from Athens, " Death Mask answered leaning on the frame of the bathroom door. Kanon lifted his head and encountered Death Mask's reflection in his mirror.

"Fuck me, Zeus! If you want I can wait for you outside." He offered, pointing to the door that lead outside.

"So what did you find?" Kanon asked moving on, while washing up his arm pits.

"Well, not much. Except that the villagers pretty much hate us now. You should've seen the look on their faces the minute I told them I was there on behalf of Athena. They freaking flipped and started yelling at me. The fuckers."

Kanon laughed and turned around leaning on the sink "Well, I wouldn't be so surprised. It's not like you are Mother Theresa..."

"Ha, ha, ha. Very Funny," Death Mask answered between drags. "I'm serious Kanon. It's not looking good. Right before I asked them about Milo about you know... things out of place and weird sick revenge customs, people started yelling at me, because one motherfucker pointed at me right in the middle of the Plaka Market, saying that we were killers and shit. You should have seen the motherfucker. He was completely out of his fucking mind!"

"Well, you at least, are a killer." He answered turning around with his back to Death Mask. He could see in the mirror how pissed his friend was getting on account of his mockery. Nevertheless Kanon wouldn't miss this oportunity to scorn him. After all it was very rare to see Death Mask shocked by a situation like this. More over to see him complaining about a task he was being appointed to do.

"Yeah well," Death Mask answered lifting his eyebrows with an amused expresion on his face "But that's not the point. I mean the villagers are now blaming the Sanctuary for their missing people. One old lady even yelled at me, demanding that we should leave their children alone or something like that. As if we would care for two missing bums and a peasant girl."

"Well, the missing trainee lived at the Plaka Market before he was chosen to enroll. "He said while shaving "I bet you this has to do with that. You can't blame them for being mad at us. People are always ready to place the blame on anyone but themselves."

"Probably," Death Mask answered putting out his cigarrette on the wall "But I swear I didn't like it. It's just ominous, this whole thing, even if this is just a desperate attempt of trying to pin us every little tragedy because they can't blame their corrupt police force for their crime wave."

Kanon nodded. Even when he wanted to dimsiss the whole thing as something unrelated to Milo's murder, the timing of the upheaval at the town couldn't have been more perfect. He wouldn't go as far as to call the situation "ominous" but it sure was unsettling.

He leaned then across the room and took a brush that was on top of the toilet tank and started brushing his hair while going out of the bathroom towards his closet.

"So anyway. Did you find anything besides the Sanctuary being unpopular among Athenians?"

"Not exactly..."

"What was it?" Kanon pressed on between gasps, while putting deodorant on his chest.

"I went to this bar that was located on the outskirts of Athens. Very near the Plaka market, and..." Death Mask made a pause - And saw three guys hammered chanting about a dead Saint. They were signing in Katoitaliotika"

At this moment he stopped putting his shirt on and turned around to face Death Mask. It had been a while since he had heard the mention of the ancient dialect spoken by the people who lived in the Magna Grecia, otherwise known as southern Italy and Sicily, where most of Greece's monuments were at nowadays. It wasn't common to hear that at all. At least not on the main land.

"Anyway" Death mask continued " I couldn't hear at first what they were singing about, only bits, as I sat far away from curious eyes on account of what had happened early at the Market. But then there was something that just made me turn around and pay attention. There was a man shouting on top a table that he had 'killed the pig'. That he had done it and that it had been very easy."

"And?" Kanon pressed on, gesturing with his hand to invite him to continue with the tale.

"I went towards them and got very close to the table." His brother's friend continued  
"Now, I don't understand much of the dialect, since I came here when I was very little and never got fully acquainted with it, but I'm pretty sure there were celebrating over something."

"Were they?" He pressed on again. Harder this time, as if by doing this he would unveil all the mystery that had been clouding his life this past days.

"I don't know," Death Mask answered and Kanon felt all his recent find animosity going away. "I mean, I didn't have a chance find out. Athena entered the bar accompanied by the Kyoko and they got me out of there, before I could do anything about it."

"Damn it."

"Yes," the other one agreed "But I did find the owner of the pig. He didn't care to find out who the thief was. He just wanted me to leave him alone. "

Kanon nodded "It's just as well. Although I don't know if you told Athena about what you heard at the bar..."

"Oh yes I did, but she didn't care. Not much anyway. She said things needed to get moved along."

To this he couldn't help but frown. It was odd that after almost three days of search Athena would suddenly stop all the inquiry. It was not like her to do something like this.

"O.k then. So I guess you can go to sleep," Kanon said, heading for the door "I'll pass Athena our report in the afternoon."

"Actually, "Death Mask hesitated for a moment, looking to the ceiling. "I came here to fetch you."

He stopped then and turned around to see him "Is it because of the Funeral?"

There was a pinch of hope in his voice. If Athena had stopped the search for Milo's killer not even caring about that last bit of precious information that Death Mask had found, it had to be on account of the upcoming memorial services. And if there was a funeral, that only meant that the madness was over. This was just perfect.

"I'm guessing you don't know because you were sleeping all morning, but uhm... Athena is having an urgent meeting in her chambers."

Then hope faded "What for?"

"Well," Death Mask began with a crooked smile on his face as if he was enjoying all this "All the other saints have been pressuring her to send someone to Hades to bring Milo back to life and she wants all of us to vote on it."

Kanon felt a slight pang of headache at the back of his head.  
He thought he would be rid of Milo once he was dead. But ironically enough it turned out to be that his death was rapidly becoming Kanon's personal quest, which was no where near the end.

They both went upstairs and they talked about other trivialities that had come to pass around the premises. Kanon couldn't keep his mind away from what the Cancer Saint had told him. There existed the slight possibility that what he had overheard was just a missunderstanding. With the sacred holidays coming up, the drunken man could have been taking about the immolation of a pig to the Gods. Even though the mentioning of the murdered Saint was out of place. Very suspicious indeed.  
But then again their little chant could have been a relfection of what Death Mask had mentioned early to him. People hated the Sanctuary now and no matter how discretely they had handled Milo's death, word could have spread outside the premises.  
It was a possibility.  
But either way, it all led them to a dead end, because the outcome of all this, was that Milo had been killed over a personal vendetta and even if his body showed the signs of a fight, Athena would not have the right to bring him back.

Twenty minutes later he and Death Mask sat in the Zodiac Chamber, an extra room that had been built recently for closed meetings, where all summoned Saints voted on important matters that would affect the entire premises.

This time however, the situation was a tad more delicate than latter issues- such as water supply or montly allowance- because it had to do with someone else's life. Something that Kanon felt incredibly uncomfortable voting on.

"Athena," He began to say when he finally could find a gap between all the yelling "I don't mean to be disrespectful, but why don't you send someone to the Hades and be done with it. I don't see why we should all vote on it."

Athena, who remained standing up during the whole meeting, walked towards him.

There was something that Kanon couldn't quite pin point about the reeincarnation of the Goddess. But nevertheless it always caused him the same effect: it took his breath away.  
The way she walked and addressed everyone, made Kanon want -without no reason- to kneel in front of her and weep. She made him feel like repenting. Like comitting only to her. It was all in one, an overwhelming sensation that pierced his body, making him vulnerable to a 16 year old teenager.  
It was ridiculous, but it was also the truth.

Kanon wondered if she had the same effect on everyone else. Or maybe it was only on him, the once traitor who Athena kept subdued by her powers, just like a loyal dog would be laying next to its master's feet.

"Have you ever lost someone Kanon?"

Kanon blinked at the question and everybody laughed making him feel uncomfortable all of the sudden. The only person he had ever lost that he cared about was Saga as their parents had passed away leaving them alone when they were only toddlers.  
Later on, when Saga had died they hadn't been in good terms. In fact Kanon had heard about Saga's death months after his passing, when Poseidon returned to the earth. And even then, he didn't weep a single tear for his brother.

"No, My lady," He answered quickly not even looking at her.

"What about Saga?" She asked with the kindest tone of voice while placing one of her small hands on his shoulder.

"I don't think he counts, My Lady," Kanon said, trying to sound casual, when in fact the whole question was making him sweat. But he knew he couldn't lie to her. He just couldn't. "Saga and I weren't too close back then, as you already know."

"I know Kanon. But wouldn't you would vote in favor of Saga had he been found in the ditch instead."

"I would," He lied not even sure how he had done it, but he had said it anyway. "But I don't know if everyone would agree with me on that matter. We are not precisely the most popular saints around."

He turned around to see Camus, who evidently took the coment personal, and who rolled his eyes as a response. But Kanon knew he was right. Had it been their lifes on the table, nobody would want to go to Hades to fetch them. He could already picture all of the saints sitting here, dancing and chanting on top of his grave had he been the one murdered.

However he understood that Athena's intention lay on being fair with the Order. It had been proven that Gods lately didn't know better, with all the wars that had almost led humanity to disaster. Still, nothing good would come out of this, because even if Gods were unfair most of the times, humans were very stupid.

"But even so," Athena kept on."Would't you have liked to have a choice over the matter?"

Kanon stared down at the table "Yes, I think so"

"I think so too," Athena said. "If I had the chance when my grand father died I would have done anything possible to be heard by the gods. So it's only fair that I hear your fellow saints out because as you know I don't have the power to bring the Scorpio Saint back."

"I undestand but..." Kanon protested, but he couldn't get further on his opinion as Camus stood up and banged his fist angrily against the surface of the table.

"Shut up Kanon!" He said, walking then to Kanon and making Athena step back a few centimeters "I can understand that you didn't like our friend but you owe to him. You owe him big."

Kanon smiled while leaning back on his chair. It was unbelievable how easy it was to make the Aquarius Saint loose all his composure.  
He remembered how Camus among all was very against Kanon being in the Order. It was more amazing how he never held a grudge against Saga even when he was at fault for the Twelve Temple battle that ultimately had killed him and his student.

"Wow," He said almost in a whisper so that only Camus could hear him. He was already standing next to him, making Mu, who was sitting beside him scoot over in an effort to be away from the fight. "I gotta tell you. I always heard the rumors about you and Milo, but I never believed them. I always thought you _had_ better taste."

"Milo was my _friend!_ " and he stressed the word friend in such a way that it seemed to Kanon he would bite off his tongue in an effort to stress the point enough. "Don't expect me to sit here and do nothing while he was killed out of no reason."

"But there _was_ a reason," Kanon corrected him, enjoying to see the Aquarius Saint flip for a treacherous leech like his so called friend. "Besides we all die. We are warriors and if you can accept that then...."

"I was dead, remember?" Camus interrupted him. "And you wouldn't be sitting next to us if Milo hadn't voted for you. Or shall I remind you that nobody wanted you here Kanon?"

"That's enough."

Both Saints turned around to see Aioros, who had witnessed the whole meeting without saying a word. Athena nodded at him and the tension that Kanon felt dangling in the air was gone.  
Camus apologized as it was expected of him, but Kanon didn't. He wasn't going to apologize for something that was so obvious that even a blind man could grasp its meaning with a simple touch. Milo had died because he had done something wrong. Because he had lead a life of excess and at the end the excesses had claimed his life. More over he was not going to cave in to Camus' last words. Sure Milo had forgiven him last, acknowledging that he was as valuable as any other saint during the Hades War, but even without Milo's aproval, he would have died the same for the Goddess. Therefore he owed him _nothing_.  
Unless Camus meant the neverending hours Kanon had to endure of Milo being a ass to him during the his first days at the Sanctuary.

Kanon laid back to his chair and said nothing the next 45 minutes. If they wanted to vote on favor to Milo's return, he would let them have his way with things. It seemed it was better this way.

"Well," The Kyoko spoke. "I think we have made a desicion. We will send someone to the Hades to appeal the case to the God of the Underworld."

Without a second thought Kanon stood up and stepped up for the task.

"I'll go."

Everyone turned around to see him.

"Why do you want to go?" Aioria asked, recieving a very stern look from his big brother who, as far as Kanon could tell, was really fed up with all the discussion.

"Because I'd rather go over there and bring Milo myself, than be here for another two hours with your never ending whining. That's why."

Kanon was expecting to be scolded for the comment, but instead the Kyoko just smiled along with Athena who nodded giving her approval for the trip to come.

There were of course protests from the other saints who claimed were more suitable to go on the trip, but at the end Athena convinced them that such a task required diplomacy and presense that Kanon, as the Gold Saint in chief, had all the qualities to carry it out. She added as well that this trip, could be good for him.That he needed a time alone to ponder things.Kanon wasn't very sure as to what she meant by that. But she at least understood that his duty was above all personal feelings and that he was the most cool headed about this issue and would be able to deliver a convincing case for Hades. If Hades asked about the details, he was going to be able to give him some and hopefully he would return with good news for all the mourners of the Scorpio Saint in days to come.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Kanon?" Athena asked placing a hand on his cheek. He closed his eyes, smelling the aroma coming out from her skin which was delicate and alluring, almost made him lean against her touch.

"Yes, My Lady," He answered, bowing respectfully afterwards to her. "I'm sure I can deliver a convincing case to Hades on your behalf."

"I'm sure you will Kanon. I'm sure you will," She said and gave him a closed letter that had her seal on the lid. "I just hope this won't be too hard on you. I wish you the best."

Kanon bowed again and left the premises and went to his temple hoping that the trip would be the end of all the mess.


	5. V

**T** he realm of the Underwold looked very different from what Kanon remembered. The last time he visited it, the realm had been a literal hell. The specters could have easily doubled as devils with tridents torturing you every where you went.

He had died there with Radamantys, so he tried not to dwell on the memories. But now he was back in the Underworld again although he couldn't say if he felt uncomfortable for those memories or because of the knowledge that he was there with the intention to save Milo.

Nowadays the Underworld was composed of a huge castle that rose above the sky as a fortress of such size and elegance that took Kanon's breath away. Definitively it was a place where an aristocrat would live. It didn't resemble at all the place a God of the Underworld would have. But there was something that made him shiver,however. An energy coming out from every stone that suggested a void. As if everything there was gone, but at the same time there.

It was weird to Kanon, having these contradictory feelings about the place and yet this energy or whatever it was -maybe it was the cosmos of this realm- coated every single piece of furniture spread out all over the place, from the gardens to the hall where he was asked to wait.  
There was also an under current that made him feel at ease. He had expected to be uncomfortable, but for some strange reason Kanon felt like he had hit the end of everything and thus nothing could ever worry him again.

Kanon was surprised when a child showed up. She had pale skin and golden locks on top of her head that fell all the way to her middle back. Unlike her light skin and hair, her eyes were surprisingly dark and Kanon soon found out he would not be able to stare at her for long as he literally felt that the gaze of the girl, would suck him inside of her. She was wearing a black dress that seem to float under her steps, and was too, surrounded by the unsetteling energy as well so Kanon just focused on following her.

She never said a word, but Kanon was greatful for the gesture. He wasn't sure he would be able to keep up small talk with such a creepy looking child.

They crossed the whole castle, accompanied by the cling-clang sound that Kanon's Gemini Armour made when coliding with the floor. They kept wallking through a maze of halls, until the girl stopped abruptly in front of a huge wooden door. On the frame there were several efiges of different apocalyptic sceneries. Kanon could recognize some of them, but there were many that extended to cultures he didn't know.

Then the girl gestured with her hand to go inside, which Kanon did promptly.

"Hello Kanon. Long time no see."

Hades spoke first. He was sitting behind a mahogany desk covered with books. On the walls were huge shelves that contained even more books of all shapes and sizes.  
He had been expecting to find a goth version of a Greek god, but instead he was greeted by a somewhat cheerful man, who was smiling and who wore a richly embroidered black robe with golden ornaments hanged from his neck.

Up until this point Kanon had thought the prescensce of this God would not unsettle him. He had been aquainted to other Gods, who more often than not looked like regulary dull civilians. But Hades was different.  
His face was something quite familiar to him and yet he didn't know why, because he was sure he hadn't seen him before.  
He had fine features: a long sharp nose, well shaped lips and a pale skin that was accented with a set of eyes very simliar to the girl who had walked him to here, and a black mane that crowned his head that looked more like a huge black hole. Except for those two godlike features, Hades could resemble any other Gold Saint, handsome in features and strong in prescense.  
But he was something much more powerful.

 _Maybe it has to do with death itself_ , Kanon thought.

The man in front of him was the God of Death and all humans whether young or old were acquainted with the concept. Kanon knew this by heart as he had to live with it day by day. It didn't matter how fearsome it was, knowing that you were going to die some day was something no one could escape for too long.  
Death was alluring, tempting, and for Kanon, familiar. And Hades was all of those things too. He was nothing like Lady Athena, who was kind and whose very prescence made you want to put down your weapons and cry.

But Hades? Seeing his face made Kanon want to want to walk to him. To see him up close. To finish everything and be peaceful at last.

Hades laughed, making him jump a little. Kanon blinked and shook his head, trying to get rid of his uncalled suicidal thoughts, focusing on the task that had been appointed to him. He wasn't sure he was going to convince Hades, but he had to give it a shot. If not for Milo at least for himself. For his pride as a Saint.

"Your, Highness." He said and bowed, then walking to the desk and handing in the letter Athena had wrote to him. Then he gave a step back and stood in the centre of the room.

"Thank you," Hades answered and opened the letter immediatly, looking sideways to Kanon once in a while as he smiled briefly over Gods knew what.

_Very unsettling indeed._

Kanon did his best not to look directly at the God, but he failed.

  
He had to admit, at least to himself, that he had been having second thoughts about the trip. He hated Gods and their ways. Or used to.  
That's why he had tried to overun Poseidon's realm in the first place. Because he had been tired of being manipulated as a puppet.  
Saga had done the same and although his brother had incarcelated Kanon for having an evil heart, he had caved to temptation, over running the Holy Land and taking the place of the Goddess.

And now, he was there, sent by a Goddess, trying to force another deity, a former enemy at that to bring a team mate back to life.

"I could not agree more with you," Hades said with a velvety tone while placing the letter next to the pile of books.

"I beg you pardon?" Kanon asked a little confusd. Hades didn't answer him. He was observing him in a way Kanon felt he was being scanned from the inside out; as if the letter handed to him seconds ago was not the subject to deal with, but _him_.

"I have to say," Hades began. "I was expecting a visit soon from the Sanctuary but I never thought she would be sending _you_."

Kanon didn't say anything, but remained quiet in an attempt to divert whatever antics Hades was planning to play on him. In any case talking back was not allowed, and he wasn't up for breaking the rules and getting himself killed over Milo.

"I'm the commander of the Gold Saints your Highness," He greeted him with his full name as protocol demanded "Gemini Kanon at your ser..."

"Yeah, yeah. I know," Hades interrupted him, with a bored tone while standing up from his chair. "Spare me the lecture. I have dinner plans today."

Kanon nodded and pressed his lips tight. He was making an effort to control himself as it was not pleasing to be mocked by a former enemy, just because Milo's friends wanted the leech back.

"So tell me," The God of the Underworld moved on with a cheerful tone and a smile on his face. "Why did you come here?"

"I came to negociate Milo's life your highness. Athena sent me on her behalf," Kanon answered promptly hoping that this would do the trick. He really didn't want to get into the details as to how the body had been found or even better, his suspicions of the motive behind Milo's murder.

"No, I meant, why did _you_ came here?" The God asked again while sitting this time on the edge of his desk like a child would do during school recess.

Kanon didn't know what to answer, other than what he had already provided: he had come, because Athena needed a favor. As simple as that.  
Still Hades kept his gaze fixed on him as if was expecting something else while tilting his head a little to the left, with his ear exposed to him.

"Ah..." Kanon opened his mouth, hating himself for enabling the God in such a childish game. "Well, I think I'm the most experienced in the audience protocol and that's why Athena chose me to do this."

"Oh..." Hades said, smiling. "So you really think you can lie to me... right?"

Kanon clenched instantly. What was Hades talking about? He was telling him the truth. He had come because Athena wanted him to come. And he had stepped up for the task because he was the best for the job. There was of course an underlying matter behind that truth, but those were personal affairs which Kanon had left at the Sanctuary to carry on his duty diligently as always.

"I'm not lying to you Lord Hades. I came here because Athena asked me to."

Hades jumped off the desk and walked towards him. He thought his repetitive answer was going to piss off the God, but for someone that had complaint about human lies, Hades still loooked quite happy.

"I already knew that," The God said while circling him. "I've known Athena since the dawn of mankind. I know she would send her best Saint to deal with me. I know that. And so far I was expecting this meeting to be another of those boring diplomatic meettings... that is, until _you_ showed up."

He then felt Hades' cosmos very near from his and it was the same kind as the one that he previously had felt on the girl and on every stone on the castle. It all came from Hades: a chilling vibe that made him stay very still, and expectant.  
Kanon swallowed, because it was now clear that Athena's warning over his coming to the Underworld was an understatement. Hades was not a God to play with. Still he had to hold his place.

"I have to give it to Athena. She's starting to get creative," Hades said and got closer to Kanon and smelled his hair. "So are you going to tell me what possesed you to come to negociate the soul of a person that you and I know, you _hate_..."

The last words were whispers, said out with a playful annoying tone that was sending Kanon over the edge. Gods were indeed holy motherfuckers.

"Why would you care if I liked Milo or not?" He asked, finally snapping while staring directly at the God with his jaws tight. " I'm _here_ because Athena sent me and it's _my duty_ as a Saint of the Order to carry on this errand leaving my personal feelings behind. That's why... your highness"

Hades laughed evidently amused by Kanon's efforts to abide to the protocole and walked away towards his desk again. It looked as if he was gliding on top of his carpet.

"You liar," The God said and laughed again, turning around to see him. Kanon felt his blood pressure rising to a dangerous level. The motherfucker was indeed playing with him. He could have made a desition by his own without having someone from the Sanctuary coming all the way over here.

"I'm not lying, My lord. I'm telling you the truth," He defended himself.

"I can read thoughts you know..."

Kanon gave a litte step back feeling exposed and angrier than ever. God or not, Hades didn't have the right to step into his mind so nonchalantly. He wasn't the one whose actions needed to be judge in this particular audience. This was about that other son of a bitch. Not about him. Hadn't he read the letter?

He wanted to ask the God of the Underworld if the letter had stated otherwise, but Hades kept on.

"The minute you stepped into my territory I've been monitoring your thoughts, and you, my friend," He pointed at Kanon. "Are still mad about this whole situation. You hate Milo more than ever, and still you came! And for what I could see, you offered to come here. Most interesting I might add. You humans never cease to amaze me."

"I'm glad we cause that effect on you, your _Highness,_ " the last word came out like a hiss. Still he couldn't do anything. If Hades was not bragging and if he could indeed read thoughts, Kanon would have to take things easier and calm himself down before he ended up accompanying Milo down the Stigia river to the next life. "But my personal feelings had nothing to do with my coming here..."

Hades raised a finger to poing the obvious. Kanon just rolled his eyes and corrected himself "O.k, yes. I came here slightly moved because I've been running errands all over Athens trying to find an excuse for the Goddess to bring Milo back. But since we ran out of those, that's why I'm here..."

"There you go," The God said, cheerfully opening his arms in victory. " Was that so hard, Kanon?"

"I suppose not, but I don't think we should discuss my feelings over this matter. Athena send me to plead his case and that's why I'm going to do"

"Very well then."

Hades reached out for a book that he had on top of one pile and opened it in front of him. "So tell me Kanon, what do you think about bringing the Scorpio saint back?"

"Wha...?" Kanon began to protest but Hades again lifted a finger to shut him up.

"Just remember to watch out for the lies."

"I really don't think I should be offering my thoughts on whether you should bring Milo back or not," He said as camly as he could. "Athena wants him back so it doesn't matter what I think"

Hades smiled again, and turned the pages of the book until he reach the page he was looking for "Ah... but there lies the question my friend. Athena made you all vote on it."

Kanon couldn't help but frown. Was Hades asking him to vote on the matter? Hadn't it been clear enought that his feelings about this shouldn't interfere with the decisions of the Gods. Was he retarded or something?

"Kanon, I'm just trying to apply Athena's approach to godly decisions," Hades said now staring at him, apparently studying his reactions "After all, you among all your fellow Saints should know about the repercussions of bringing a person to life again, or shall I remind you about your brother?"

"Saga was already ill, way before Athena brought him back to life" He said, already anticipating the guilt trip Hades was trying to play on him "If Athena wants Milo back and if Milo gets ill because of it, then it has nothing to do with my role here. I'm just a messenger."

"But what would Milo want? If he were here to decide for himself that is..." Hades pressed on, making Kanon feel awfully uncomfortable with all the questions.

"Why would you care? You and Athena are very different for that matter."

This time Kanon made sure that his statement sounded as rude as he intended it to be. He was getting tired of the games.

"Yes we are very different. Very different indeed, but that doesn't make my question less important for the issue we are discussing at the moment. Just answer the question please."

Kanon sighed, looking sideways while searching in his brain for an answer that would satisfy the God, that didn't implicate a new line of questions about his point of view.

"I really don't know what he would have wanted, my lord," He finally said. It was a lame excuse but it was also the truth.  
If Hades already knew Kanon despised the dead Saint he would understand that having an answer for this question was not something he had.

"Really?" Hades asked, pressuring Kanon again. "I think you know, but you don't want to tell me, because you already feel ackward with all my questions but if you don't want to answer that's fine," The God offered closing the book. "I'll get to a decision by myself. You can go to your Goddess now."

Kanon nodded feeling a heavy weight being lifted off of him. "Thank you, my lord. Is there anything else I can help you with? Perhaps some information regarding how Milo died or...well something that would help you to decide?"

"Actually there is," Hades answered leaning on top of the desk. "It's more of a personal question, and you can choose to answer the question or not"

Kanon sighed "Ask away, my lord,"

Hades stood up again, leaving his desk. This time however he took Kanon by his wrist and led him to a small living room that was covered by the shadows in one corner.  
Hades then took one of the couches, leaving the love seat to Kanon.

"I'm sorry, I'm a terrible host. Would you like something to drink?" The God offered, but Kanon shook his head immediately.

"I much rather hear the question, your highness. I'm not thirsty at the moment."

"Very well then," Hades answered half smiling and then he began. "At the beginning of our audience I told you I had been surprised that Athena had sent you, but my shock Kanon, lay not in your evident loathing for the Scorpio Saint, but more on the fact that you were one of the few who could really speak on behalf of your team mate. That's why I pointed out that Athena had become creative at last."

"Sorry but I don't understand, " He said frowning again. Hades only shifted to a more comfortable position on the couch to continue his speech.

"I know that every other saint," Hades continued. "Who attended the audience that Athena held for the voting, thought of you as unfit for the task. That you had no place being here, because you hated their friend and therefore wouldn't be of any use in the pleading of his case. But they didn't see what Athena or myself saw in you."

"Which is?" Kanon asked dryly, feeling annoyed.

"You have endured what resucitation can cause to a human being. And that you could deliver Milo's voice in this audience."

"My lord," Kanon said between gritted teeth."I told you I don't know what Milo would have wanted. And even if I knew I do not care."

"But you do Kanon. And you should, because you are not like Milo, and you are capable of accepting that you had been wrong. And because above all, if you can repay this so called 'honor debt' to him you will be able to walk out of the Hades without owning anyone anything."

Hades stared at him, this time with a serious expression. Kanon just diverted his eyes, thinking deeply in what he had said.

Milo was by far one of the most obnoxious people he knew. One of the most hypocritical humans he knew. But he had to give it to the man: He was loyal and one of the best Saints of Athena when duty had called. And that was all that mattered now.  
He wasn't pleading a case to bring back Milo the clandestine fighter who made easy money by scamming street fighters. He wasn't pleading to bring back a man who had no boundaries when sex was concerned. He was pleading to bring back a valuable member of the order who had been killed.  
A friend for some people. A lover for others. A man that ultimately did talk on Kanon's behalf and made everyone fully accept him as The Gemini Saint.  
If he hadn't cared about Milo's opinion he wouldn't have cried after he had been pierced by his needles during the beginning of the Hades War. He would have made a comeback to rip his tiny little fucking head off as a thank you for the gesture.

But he had cried instead, because he had been looking forward to the atonement of his sins. He had been expecting -from the moment he had been introduced by the Goddess- to be yelled at, to be attacked. But people only ingnored him, acting as if they agreed with the Goddess' decision, even if they didn't. It had been the final insult. Only Milo had stepped up, enabling him for the very first time, forcing him to discuss the issue, as _warriors_.

Kanon sighed again, letting his face fall to his hands. This was way too much information to digest in such a little time. More over, it was hard to come to the conclusion that he did owe Milo something, being the only one that had confronted him as a fellow Saint and not as some temporary replacement for the Gemini rank.

"Fine, I'll tell you."

Hades smiled and sat back against his couch. Kanon looked up, feeling strangely how all the argession he had previouly felt was completely gone.

"The answer is no. Milo wouldn't want to be brought back to life."

The God of the Underworld blinked, but Kanon didn't let him dwell long enough on what he had said. Instead he elaborated his answer "Just a month after Athena and the other Gods gathered to sign the truce, we had a little reunion and we talked about the implications of the new rules."

Hades nodded, encouraging him to go on.

"Most people said that they would want to be brought back, should they ever die in a non-war situation, but Milo and I were the only ones who said no to the option." Kanon made a pause. He could almost see Milo in his mind, leaning casually on one of the pillars of the Leo Temple, holding a beer in one of his hands.

"My opinion of course was based on Saga, but Milo's I guess, was based on the fact that he thought if he should die out of natural causes or by anything else he had brought on himself, he would had wanted to remain dead. I wouldn't know if he changed his mind after that. He and I weren't very close."

"Well, thank you Kanon," Hades spoke standing up. "I'll notify my decision to Athena in the upcoming full moon."

Kanon nodded and stood up, leaving the building.  
He felt weird. As if the scales had been evened out, cancelling his debt with the Scorpio Saint.  
Now he owed him nothing. Milo once had given him the gift of recognition among the order. The feeling of belonging that he had yearned for quite some time after Saga had gone mad.  
Now he had spoken for the Gods on his behalf, as Milo would have held his peace for sure, if he had been asked about it.

And this, had been Kanon's gift to him.


	6. VI

Kanon arrived late at the Sanctuary. The moon was already at its highest point and he thanked the Gods for that as without that light the trail to the Trellos mountain was really dark.

The questions Hades had asked still haunted him. He had moved something in him that went beyond the Milo issue.  
He thought of Saga and his never ending question revolving around what would happen if he were to die as well.

Kanon had always taken death for granted, seeing it very much as a requirement to do his job. It was a downside to all the abilities he had by holding the Gemini title. He thought that death ended everthing, and that people who were distant from the whole situation would move on as if nothing had changed in their worlds.

He had been wrong. For a Saint, death however futile, changed everything. It had changed Saga. It had changed him and it certainly had changed the way in which he related to Milo, finally understanding, if a little the way he acted and saw the world.

"Saga?" He asked out loud for his brother in the minute he entered the small cottage, finding him in his customary position near the corner.  
He was counting again not even looking at him this time.

"It's so shiny..." Saga muttered, unaware it seemed to Kanon's presence.

Kanon didn't mind being ignored this time. He went directly for the floor and sat down cross legged hoping to have a talk with his brother about all what he had seen and learned on his trip.

Shaka was on his mind as well. The ungodly hippie had been right. The Order would become stronger if they acknowledged the truth. Perhaps his trip didn't make him like Milo better, but at least if he returned he would be able let his grudge go, now being able to see past Milo's attack.

"I came back from the Hades, Saga," He began casually, trying to look past his brother to the near wall. That way perhaps he wouldn't feel frustrated by being ignored. But Saga didn't even turn around. He kept focused on whatever it was in front of him.

"There's nothing on it now. Not one, not two, nor three" Saga said focused.

Kanon sighed heavily twisting his mouth.

"Saga please," He pleaded "I want to tell you something."

But Saga kept counting "Not four, not six, nor seven"

This had been the last straw for Kanon.

"All Mighty Athena!" He exclaimed standing up, walking up to Saga "Can't you even pay attention to what I'm saying just for a second?"

He grabbed his brother by the shoulder and spun him around. He was afraid that Saga would start to scream at him but he did nothing. He just stared back with a psychotic look on his face, holding a bundle between his hands.

"It's shiny now" Saga said with a happy, yet creepy tone in his voice, making Kanon feel more and more exasperated.

"What in Athena's name are you fucking talking about??" He yelled, panting now with clenched fists.

Still Saga didn't yell, just lifted the bundle placing it in front of Kanon's eyes.  
Kanon gasped.

Saga was holding Milo's left hand.

The missing hand that still had the red nail grown into battle mode and that now for some macabre reason shone as if the body to which it belong was still alive.

"Saga... What did you _do_?" He asked, while giving a few steps back with his eyes wide open.

"I thought Milo would need this when he got back. I saved it for you and kept it safe from maggots who kept growing again and again no matter what I did."

Kanon place a hand over his mouth as an attempt to avoid yelling to his brother. All this time when he had come and gone from the cottage Saga _had been counting maggots_.

Putrefied, disgusting, flesh eating maggots.

"Saga..." He began, not sure how to phrase the sentence as to not upset Saga and send him into frenzy for what he had done "Why do you have that?"

It was a stupid question, of course, but a fair one too. He just couldn't bring himself to pin the murder on his brother. Not yet.

Saga wasn't crazy enought to kill off Milo and later on keep his hand as a souvenir.

He just couldn't.

Not Saga. Not him.

 _No, no, no._

Kanon ran his fingers through his hair, thinking out on all possible explanations, but most importantly focusing on the mad man that was in front of him.

And then he remembered the maid, Adara who had been coming all this time to the cottage to help him take care of his brother and who would surely have notified him, had she found a rotten hand lying around.

Kanon gasped realizing the implications of what was in front of him. He didn't want to think now how in hell Saga had got hold of the severed hand, or the implications of his having the last piece of evidence about Milo's murder. Now there was a more pressing matter that he had to see to.

"Whe..re is Adara, Saga?" He asked hesitating while looking at either direction of the house, almost panicking. Meanwhile Saga returned his attention to the hand wich he wrapped up carefully and place inside one box that was on his corner.

"She's in the back" his brother answered not even looking at him "I already told you yesterday."

Kanon frowned and looked instantly at the pitch black sky oustide the window. Even if the maid stayed around the house to take care of Saga, she wouldn't dare to be here this late. The path to Athens was full of thieves and rapists and everybody knew that. There was no way she could get safely to her house.

So he ran towards the door that lead to the back garden and looked for the girl, but there was nothing there, only a deserted garden that had a few blades of grass growing near the edge of the mountain and a few bushes of roses that had been planted by Aprhodite before Saga had moved in. Past it all that, Kanon could see was the edge of the cliff and beyond it, the lights of the city of Athens glowing in the dark extending towards the Agean sea.

"Where the hell is she?" Kanon asked out loud, desperate already.  
He looked behind the bushes and the trees and even went down the cliff to be sure she hadn't fallen and broke her neck accidentaly. But Adara was not there either.

Kanon began to climb back again while he tried his hardest to remain calm. There was a huge chance that Saga was showing another schizoid behaviour of his, where he usually claimed people were around were they were actually not.

However when he set foot on the garden again, he stepped onto something that definitiely hadn't been there the last time he had been here.  
There was a small mount of dirt, encircled with white stones and crowned with three roses that were already fading.

Kanon kneeled down instantly, almost in automatic and started digging desperately, not even caring if the dirt was now all over his shirt or face, while praying silently to all the Gods he knew that Adara was safe at home and not buried under this improvised tomb.  
He kept digging for a couple of minutes until his hands came across with a bump.  
Kanon thought it was a rock but in a closer look it turned out to be something golden. He then brushed off with the tips of his fingers the rest of the dirt unvailing what it appeared to be a wedding band, placed on top of a half rotten hand that belonged to a woman.  
The finger nails were still painted and dirty on account of all the mud.

It took Kanon half an hour to undig all the corpse that was buried, but soon enough Adara was again in front of him.

Kanon thought the stench was going to be the most unbearable thing to endure, but he was wrong again. The hardest part was watching the young woman that had been the only one who had been kind enough, to endure the care of a schizophrenic man, now lying half rotten, with maggots coming out from one of her void eye sockets.

And he didn't even now she was married.

 _Stupid, stupid Kanon_.

Kanon closed his eyes not even wanting to think about the things she had left undone. About the family she had left behind -if any- because this only made him feel like going back to the cottage and beat the hell out of Saga for this.

 _Stupid, stupid Kanon_.

He kept repeating this to himself while he left the tears ran freely down his cheeks. Sure, he had known Saga was mentally ill all along, but even so his brother had always shown that there was some sanity inside of him and that he above all liked Adara enough to never raise a hand against her and Kanon had trusted him, blindly.

 _Stupid, stupid Kanon_.

He had sent a poor girl to the slaughter house against his better judgment and he felt very angry for it, now remembering Death Mask's words about the upheaval of the town and their hatred for the Order.  
Kanon was sure that Adara was the missing girl.

"She was like that when I found her in my garden," Saga said and Kanon turned around with bloody murder in his eyes, flaring his cosmos as a warning.

"I don't know why anyone would kill her. She was very nice to me," Saga said again, walking towards Kanon who swallowed hard trying his best to contain his urge to beat his brother into a pulp. Talking crazy here was not going to help him to get out of this. Not when he had killed Adara in cold blood.  
Now he didn't need any reassurance that he had finished off Milo as well.

Saga was mad. _Very_ mad.

"How could you do this Saga?" Kanon asked, yelling " She was just a poor peasant girl, you..."

"It's funny," Saga said, looking down to his feet, making Kanon to take a deep breath. "That's what Milo said when he came that night."

"What?" Kanon asked completely enraged now for the detachment that his brother was showing to all the murders.

"Milo said the same when he found Adara lying on the ground." Saga pointed at the tomb, making Kanon turn around instictively. "Of course she was still very pretty and not a corpse like now. She wore a purple skirt and a white blouse with her long hair attached to a bun, Kanon. You should have seen her. She looked lovely. I was in love with her, you know?"

Saga walked towards the tomb, passing Kanon who kept staring at him frowning.  
He just didn't know what to do with all this. Was Saga excusing himself by saying he couldn't have killed her because he loved her? Or was this a confession to the crimes?

Saga knelt in front of the grave and took Adara's left hand into his and started to weep.

"One, two, three, four..." Saga started counting again. "I heard a loud bang and thought someone was trespassing in my garden, so I came out to see who it was and then I found her, lying in the dirt and she was covered with bruises Kanon, with blood coming out of her head. Poor Adara. I just piled up the earth to cover her so that vultures wouldn't feast on her body."

Kanon stood up and went to the tomb. Unless Adara had been thrown against something she wouldn't have blood coming off her head.  
If Saga had killed her, there would have been traces of his powers on a tree or maybe on the house, as his brother could no longer control his strength.  
There was the slight possibility that he had banged her head against the rock and killed her....

Kanon held the partially rotten head in his hands looking for a clue. Part of the scalp was already off the body and as Saga had said there was blood plastered against the strands of Adara's beautiful blond hair.  
Most of the skull was intact, which indicated that it hadn't been smashed by a warrior. Even less by Saga. Then when he spun the head over he found a tiny little hole above the ear that was black and that matched another one that was in the opposite side of the head.  
Next to her there was the casket of bullet. Adara had been shot, so Saga hadn't killed her.

"And then Milo came and said I killed Adara Kanon. And he started yelling at me..."

Kanon didn't need any more explanations. It was all very clear now.

Adara had met Milo somehow, and even though when she was married started to go out with him.  
It had been an easy thing to do, as the Trellos mountain was very off limits to everyone at the sanctuary. But Milo as a Saint could climb the mountain and reach the cottage through the back and meet his lover in a secluded place.  
Her husband had found out and had planned to get rid of the treacherous Saint, and had found in Saga the ultimate weapon to destroy a warrior without even coming close to him.

"Then he attacked me Kanon and I had to defend myself," Saga kept on while his schizoid expression swiftly changed to a more normal one "He tried to sting me with his motherfucking needle but I stop it midway and snapped his fucking usless hand off. First breaking it and then tearing it off. You should have heard his scream when he saw the blood coming out of his hand in a gush."

Saga laughed, crooking one eyebrow as he used to do when he was fully enjoying things. "He thought I would be usless but I'm Saga. And I once was above all of them. I once was above him. He should have never raised a hand against me."

"Oh Saga..." Kanon whispered, noticing how Saga started loosing lucidness in the middle of his speech. "Even so. You didn't have to kill him Saga. You've been used Saga.... You've only been used"

Kanon got closer to his brother and hugged him. Between his embrace he could feel Saga shivering like a child. He then looked towards Adara's tomb almost seeing Milo going into a frenzy having seen the girl he was involved with, dead.

"I'm sorry Kanon," Saga apologized, kneeling again on the floor "I didn't mean to. But the voices had told me this would happen. Yes, the voices. "

He could almost see the husband lurking on the premises waiting for Saga to do his dirty job. He must have known Saga would flip the moment he was being yelled at. A piece of information that only Adara could provide to an outsider.

Sadly, Saga had done as expected. He had torn off Milo's only way of defence and punched him until he was dead, and then left him at the mercy of a different kind of vulture that later on chopped off his head with the aid of steel chains. If he was right he had come across Adara's husband when he had hired her and he had been an ugly little small man, who with no doubt would have problems carrying a man twice his size. He had probably chained Milo's body onto something and pulled from his legs to detach the head. That would explain the scratches that the body had besides the bruises and then days later he switched the head with the one of a stolen pig.

"Fucker," Kanon said while recalling Death Mask's anecdote about what he had seen in the bar.

The murderer probably had to wait quite a while in the dark until he was very sure Saga had gone to sleep, because the crazy Saint didn't like lurkers in his garden either.  
But when he took Milo's body with him he forgot the hand which probably his brother kept after realizing what he had done, in between his delusions.

Saga was right. There was no difference between what had been on his wall to what was outside in the world. Everything was shit.

Everything.

( _I'm sorry you of all people had to deal with this_ _)_

Kanon wanted to scream, remembering Athena's words. It was as if she knew what he would have to endure in days to come. Maybe that's why she had stopped Death Mask's advances in the research realizing that unveiling the horrible truth about Milo's murder would only endanger yet another saint and bring down the Order again.  
Maybe...Kanon could just hope.

"Will you tell Athena, Kanon?" Saga asked between sobs. Kanon looked at him and then looked to the city feeling a pang of anger rushing through this body.

"No Saga. I won't," He answered. "It doesn't matter anyway. Maybe Milo will be back tomorrow. Who knows."

"Maybe..." Saga said and they both stayed in the garden until the sun started to rise on the horizon.

 **The End**


End file.
